NEW: Monetizing Attention: From TV to TikTok

On June 22nd, we present : "Making, Measuring, and Selling Media Audiences" by Prof. Felan Parker.

“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer—you’re the product.”

We usually associate that phrase with social media and Silicon Valley. But the idea long predates the internet.

In this engaging lecture, Felan Parker explores the powerful concept of the audience commodity - the idea that in advertising-supported media, the real product being sold is you: your attention, habits, preferences, and time.

First developed in 1981 by Canadian scholar Dallas Smythe, this theory helps explain how media industries have long turned audiences into economic assets - from broadcast television to today’s platforms like TikTok, streaming services, and social media.

How are audiences measured, packaged, and sold? What changed when viewers became users - and users became data? And what does it mean to participate in media systems built around capturing attention?

Expect a smart, accessible look at the hidden economics of media and the evolving relationship between creators, platforms, advertisers, and the people watching.

💡 About the incredible Prof. Felan Parker

Felan Parker is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael’s College, part of the University of Toronto.

His research focuses on media industries, game studies, and digital culture, with particular interest in the production and reception of independent digital games and the role of conventions, expos, and festivals in media ecosystems. He is also a co-investigator on Swarming Comic-Con, an ethnographic study of San Diego Comic-Con.

Prof. Parker has published in leading journals including New Media & Society, Games & Culture, and Cinema Journal, and co-edited the anthology Beyond the Sea: Navigating Bioshock.

📅 Date: June 22, 2026
🕡 Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
📍 Location: Reid's Distillery
🎤 Speaker: Prof. Felan Parker

🎟 Seats are limited!

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